By now everybody is familiar with the Supreme Court ruling about the Westboro “Baptist” “church” and you all have an opinion. I write a blog, so I thought I would share mine. A few months back I wrote a post regarding the religion portion of the first amendment in which I said “Politically speaking, I do not want to be involved in anything that tells other people how they can or cannot worship. Nor do I want someone telling me how I can or cannot worship.”
I feel pretty much the same about the WBC. What they are doing is reprehensible on a number of levels. Their whole act is made worse by the fact that they have the audacity to call themselves a church. Morally speaking, I could not be opposed more strongly. However, what they are doing is guaranteed as a right by the first amendment.
Politically speaking , I do not want to be involved in telling any group what they can or cannot say, nor do I want to any group telling my church what it can or cannot say.
Ultimately this is my fear. If the words of one group can be silenced then the words of another can be. There are many who would equate a conservative Christian view toward homosexual behavior with those of Phelps’ group, even though that is not only unfair it is false. The Bible teaches that god loves everyone. The Bible also teaches that God is holy and that He cannot tolerate sin. The message of WBC is that God hates those involved in a particular sin. That message is vastly different but there are some who see no difference.
I want the Westboro “Baptist” “church” to stop with their hatefulness. I certainly want them to stop picketing funerals of our soldiers and to just have some decency. I believe that the message they teach is destructive and that it is designed to call attention to their group rather than to any issue or cause. Even with all that, I believe that the Supreme Court ruled properly.
I know that a supreme court decision on this issue is news so it has to be covered. I have a suggestion. The news organizations of the world should vow not to cover this group again. That would be the most deserved punishment and it would be most crushing to them.
An extra thought
I really want to write a whole post about the name Westboro Baptist Church. They are certainly not a church; not by any definition. They are also not Baptist in any way. I strongly suspect that the people of Westboro don’t want to be associated with this group either. My suggestion is that the world adopt a new name for the group. My suggestion is GHF. That is what they are most associated with. I’ll take your suggestions for a new name for this group in the comments.